This Time, A North Dakota Player Lost It In The Handshake Line

CJ Fogler

12:25 am, January 15th, 2012

One of hockey’s best traditions is the handshake line. After a weekend series, playoff series, etc. teams will line up in their entirety to shake hands in a show of sportsmanship. North Dakota’s Ben Blood didn’t get the memo.

After last night’s clean and hard fought one goal game in which Danny Kristo’s hit from behind and temper tantrum were the only ugly incidents, tonight’s game was quite different for both squads. The Gophers and North Dakota (who are no longer the Fighting Sioux) resumed their weekend series and after the Gophers earned a 4 goal lead the frustration set in, which included some bad penalties by both teams and an ejection for Minnesota’s Mark Alt for an illegal hit from behind into the boards. The game ended with a shoving match in which you’ll see a linesman accidently knock Blood down getting him away from Minnesota’s Seth Ambroz. The evening closed when Blood pushed Kyle Rau and was tied up by Ambroz in the handshake line, something that pretty much defeats the purpose, and prompted both coaches to pull their players off the ice.

While it’s a shame that this great rivalry will be lost when Minnesota leaves the WCHA to join the new Big Ten hockey conference and North Dakota goes to the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference, it might actually be safer in the long run. Of course, these two teams could easily meet in the conference tournament in a few months…